Spring is in full swing – and we are v busy at work – sowing, potting, planting, pruning etc etc etc…. This stage of Spring is what growers in Ireland call ‘the hungry gap’, which was a surprise to me at first- but of course, no matter how much sowing and minding you do when the growing season starts – you also have to have patience for the new season crops to mature… So, while we are starting to harvest the earliest salads and herbs, our produce list at the moment doesn’t reflect the range of produce that we hope to have from our garden by early summer.

At the moment, in trays/pots or the ground we have sown:

scallions, lettuce (various), rocket, coriander, parsley, dill, chervil, chives, anise, sage, thyme, oriental salads (mustard leaf, mizuna, pak choi), basil – these are all quick to mature and are either ready/nearly ready to harvest now. We will also have transplants of the salads and herbs to sell in pots for you to use as cut & come again crops.

tomatoes, chillies, peppers, courgettes, runner beans

broad beans, radishes, sugar peas, carrots, potatoes

spinach, beetroot, chard, artichoke (globe), aubergine, cabbage (various), calabrese (broccoli), celery, celeriac, kohl rabi, cauliflower, leeks, onions, garlic

In the fruit garden the rhubarb is coming on well, as are leaves on all the berry bushes and the fruit trees are all budding nicely.

There are others still to be sown (cucumber, sweetcorn, pumpkin, french beans, peas) – later in April, but, all in all, we think we are off to a good start for the season. Of course, we now have to keep up with each of these crops, but, so far so good!

I am filling you in all this to give you our plan for the season, and a sense of what we hope to have on offer as we get into early summer. Growing and eating seasonally, particularly in a cool climate such as ours means that each crop has it’s own time.

In the meantime, I guess we are all waiting a little – but maybe it makes each crop a little bit more special when it’s ready to harvest?

Well, there has been little time to sit and write about what we are doing over the last couple of weeks… too much to do!

Spring is finally here, and everything is taking off at the same time. It’s great to see the growth back in the tunnel.

We have now sown, potatoes (still waiting for them to peep through), early carrots, broad beans, sugar peas and radishes – all directly into the new tunnel. The tunnel gives a great headstart on the growing season, particularly when combined with fleece for crop protection. On the hotbench we have sown an array of herbs, salads, spinach, leeks, celery, artichokes and, the true vote of confidence that summer is coming – our tomatoes and chillis are sown and on their way (I hope!).

There are about 30 packets of seed sitting in the kitchen waiting to be sown this week… amongst them all the brassicas (eg calabrese, cabbage), onion and garlic sets, and successional sowings of all the salads, orientals and herbs already started. There is a rhythm to sowing that we have to establish – mostly it works on the principle of a little and often… so we will be sowing lettuce, scallions etc. every week to have a constant supply. This is the best way to avoid having a glut of produce at times and none at others. It does take a bit of getting used to though – and I do get tempted to sow everything in one go – to get the job done!

It is so nice to sow seeds at this time of year – it’s the first step into Summer.